MY theory is that banks actually LIKE these card skimmers due to the money they make in bank fees from overdrafted accounts that people have once skimmers steal all their money.

For the banks it's a win/win situation!

We'll find out the banks are installing the skimmers to make extra money off of us, since we're in a recession.

Seriously I was gonna say...

ISN'T IT INCUMBENT UPON BANKS TO PROTECT THEIR EQUIPMENT FROM SKIMMERS???

I mean, they don't just leave a door open all night with an invitation to cut the padlock to the bank's vault! Seems like this is too easy. Perhaps someone should be asking the people at the banks what the deal is, and perhaps ask that they invest in a little security. Maybe put up a poster of what their ATM is SUPPOSED to look like for starts?

I worked at a bank for years and one of the things we had to do everyday was get the deposits from the ATM. Seems that if bank employees are balancing these machines everyday (they are), then they should be educated by the banks to spot this tampering.

Any minute now this story will be picked up by the news networks.

this makes me want to go hunting for skimmers. can we set up a consumerist challenge to see who can find the most?

@JGKojak:

Why do you think so few banks have been hit by card skimmers? They've been widely regarded as urban legends simply because it's so difficult to actually find one. Most banks have cameras surveying their equipment and specialists who perform routine inspections. It's not like installing a skimmer is a simple task.

This is totally whacked out that police and banks don't care about this! If legitimate users of a bank are findings these they shouldn't even be allowed to keep them just based on the fact that SOME customers information may be present on the devices...

If you find one of these please do not keep them. That is just as bad as a scammer getting it back and hacking the card numbers.

I found new anti-skimming technology at the Chase/WaMu banks here in the SF Bay area:

[timedoctor.org]

@salteater: Apparently the security at Chase is a little lax?

@salteater: Not to mention the people that work in the branches. If it is a branch serviced ATM like many are then there is probably someone working on that machine at least once if not several times a day.

I think the reason you don't see more of these is that is is a quick crime. Person A puts a skimmer on an ATM at a busy time of day. Person B - Y use ATM, skimmer collects info. Person Z collects skimmer and gets info on the other 24 people. Repeat at several ATMs throughout the area and collect a lot of info.

I think many people are thinking that the person has to leave the skimmer there for days when that's probably just not the case.

I've seen some 'Anti-skimming' (Green plastic slots with strange lights on them) devices on WaMu machines-- they looks suspiciously LIKE skimmers, but I assume they're real as they are on all the ATMS. Also, can we ever get some pictures of these things that are actually in focus?

I have a solution for this.

ALL companies that have ANY sort of credit card reader should be REQUIRED to have a picture of what he front of the machine looks like--specifically, the card reader. This picture should be prominently placed on the machine in such a way that it cannot be easily covered.

The picture would show what the card reader SHOULD look like, and say "if the card reader below does NOT look like this picture, DO NOT USE THE MACHINE! Someone may have attached an unauthorized device," etc. etc.

This would solve the problem pretty quickly. Yes, there are probably a few rough edges to this idea that need to be fully thought out, but overall this would help.

My thought is that the skimmer criminals figure more people are now using cash due to the down economy...

Chase is probably installing them themselves to pay back the govt.

A friend of mine who banks at WaMu in the LA area had $2800 electronically removed from his checking account, leaving him with a negative balance. WaMu took their sweet time (5 days) replacing the money, even though they acknowledged the fraud. I think he was left with overdraft charges and his credit card rate went up because he couldn't make his credit card payment on time. Talking to WaMu customer service was fruitless; he had to stop in at a local branch to plead his case with the bank manager. I think eventually it got straightened out, but this was a read hardship for him. (I urged him at the time to contact Consumerist, but he was able to resolve this without Consumerist's involvement.)

Now I wonder if he wasn't a victim of skimming, and that's how his account was hacked. It says that one of these skimmers was found at a WaMu branch in LA; he works in LA.

This has sure made me aware of the problem of skimmers!

What if people star breaking machines trying to "find" skimmers? What are we supposed to do?

@gerrylum: Which will be a good thing. As consumerist readers we are privy to this information, and are able to protect ourselves from these types of scams. But I don't know one single person who has ever heard of the Consumerist. (Or gizmodo for that matter)

If Brian Williams talks about it though, then you can bet that the word will get out.

@wildhare11: Um, hate to break it to you but most street level police don't have a clue about information security and crimes.

If a traditional "give me the money" bank robbery is in progress they know what to do and have been trained.

If you show up with a skimmer pulled from an ATM the cops don't have the training to understand it is just the same as a pickpocket. The idea is to recognize the skimmer, leave it in place and then call them. Then the patrol man will rip it off himself and allow the criminals to go free versus staking it out.

@y2julio:

F-it dude, let's go bowling.

@wickedpixel: Just like an Easter egg hunt! How seasonal.

It's time for your new parent consumerreports.org to get on this.

How do you reduce your risk? It seems that you're rolling the dice when you use a credit card at an ATM. Is a debit card safe? Are you safe is you limit yourself to your ATM card at your own bank's ATM?

This scares the sh*t out of me.

I have not seen this possibility mentioned - perhaps the crooks are taking advantage of the WAMU -> Chase transition and preying on doe-eyed customers that are already seeing all sorts of aesthetic changes at their once-familiar WAMU branches?

Is there any indication that certain kinds of machine are more vulnerable--say, the swipe ones vs. the card-eating ones?

@howie_in_az: Well they just switched to Chase from WaMu, so maybe they don't know what their ATMs are supposed to look like, haha

@QuiteSpunky: The skimmers themselves have special technology that makes your camera take blurry pictures. It's been proven.

@wickedpixel: I was thinking the same thing. Who else wants to do it?

@JGKojak: "Maybe put up a poster of what their ATM is SUPPOSED to look like for starts?"

It would be easy to put up your own poster, and then bing!, I got JGKojak's card stripe and PIN.

@gerrylum: No way! Can you imagine all the manpower it takes to fix these issues. Every person may not know his/her daily balance, but people that get NSF fees notice. And they especially bitch and scream when it's not their fault. And then after spending at least an hour on the phone calming people down, they have to return the fee anyways.

@howie_in_az: I wouldn't say it's the best, but they're 2 for 14,000; it's not that bad either.

@TimeDoctor:
Take a look at how small the skimmer is in the OP photos. I bet you could plug that on the end of the card slot you saw.

Its likely that somone found a flaw in the WAMU/Chase system and has passed around info which makes targeting the system more appealing, so there is a surge in placement of the devices.

Not really understanding what I'm looking at in pics #3 and 4?!?!?!

@JulesWinnfield: Educate yourself. Credit card, debit card -- same risk. Limiting yourself to your own bank's ATM isn't going to solve anything unless you're going to limit actual locations and you familiarize yourself with how the card slots are supposed to look like. Read the OP for ideas on how to protect yourself. Jiggle anything attached to the card slot to see if it's loose.

@floraposte: I'm more wary of the swipes if the swipe reader looks like an attachment instead of a whole piece of plastic, integrated with the main machine.

Note to Nick McGlynn: watermarking your photos doesn't make them better, or you more legit.

Jesus christ...won't you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE put the subject of your photos in proper focus, at the least?

Pic 6 is weird (the one with the mirror)...I see the Chase ATM reflected in the mirror, but where is an ATM right next to a table with wood grain? Presumably this ATM is outside...anybody else notice that?

Not really questioning the legitimacy..just thought that was odd.

@el-brazo-onofre: They can include a photo of the ATM as part of their graphics along with warning messages.

@MBEmom: And if the ATM is like the ones I use regularly, the employees access it from behind, inside the bank or via a rear door in the ATM standalone booth in the parking lot, and never go out front to look where they would look at the card slot.

@scoosdad: Well, for one, I always accessed them from the front, just like anyone else. Second, they are still right there and could easily check for these types of things on a regular basis.

@midwestkel: I would, but I'm also wondering whether the cops would find it sketchy that I was driving up to an ATM just to push buttons and pull on the card slot.

@JulesWinnfield: This is actually part of why I simply don't use ATMs. Their insecurity scares the shit out of me, and I was unable to find enough reassurance that the card was secure -- from physical theft, from skimming, from PIN theft -- to convince me to use one.

People look at me funny when I say I don't use ATMs, but it's been years* since I used one and it really doesn't create a problem for me.

*I actually do use ATMs overseas; it's often a cheaper conversion, even with the fees, and it's good to know you have access to foreign cash when exchanges and banks might not be open. But I haven't used one in the states since about 2002.

Skimmer scamming scumbags.

@JGKojak: I would think the banks just figure it's the problem of the dunces that designed the machines and made them vulnerable to this sort of thing. Seems many of the machines have been refreshed over the past few years, and certainly the skimming technology has been on the horizon and popping up here and there. Why is it so easy to do this?

I'm guessing the same Diebold division that designs "security" for their voting machines is also in charge of making their ATMs "skimmer resistant." Both seem about as effective.

@gerrylum: We'd better call CNN so they can get their catchy music and logo done.

@QuiteSpunky: Probably not. Unless you just happen to be walking up to an ATM with a camera (or take the damn skimmer home with you first -- likely not a good idea), they're probably taken with cell phones.

So start off with a crappy phone camera, then coat the lens with fingerprints, smudge from your greasy hair, and drippings from the french fries in your pocket. Blurry pictures are pretty much guaranteed then.

@PGibbons:
Diebold ATM and Premier Election Systems are completely different companies, and to be honest Diebold ATMs are quite honestly one of the most secure available. Other quality ATMs are manufactured by NCR and Wincor Nixdorf. Those Titon and Tydell machines in gas stations are complete garbage.

A lot of banks use third party armored carriers like the one I work for for their ATM maintenance and replenishment service. We have received many memos about skimmers. They have been around for a while. I check for any abnormalities every time I service an ATM. Many of the higher quality ATM makers have devices that can preform self diagnostics and take action. An NCR machine I was working on shut itself down because it detected someone trying to tamper with the card reader / card capture. People are always trying to find a better way to scam ATMs, and the better ATM manufacturers are finding better ways to stop it. ATMs with imaging depositors can detect forged bills, and fraudulent deposits.